


A Lost Memory - 彼岸花

by ScarOfTheWind



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Character Development, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Family, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Original Clan(s) - Freeform, Strong Haruno Sakura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:01:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25633993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarOfTheWind/pseuds/ScarOfTheWind
Summary: It had only been a mistake. A rather severe one, sure, but still a mistake. That was all it took for her clan to cast her out. To this day, Chiharu Hitotsuyanagi lives with the guilt of abandoning those who had always stood by her side, all the while fighting to become a shinobi in order to fulfil a promise she had made to her mother.
Kudos: 6





	1. Ｐｒｏｌｏｇｕｅ -  序章

Light filtered through the bouquet of green foliage above, striking the long black strands of hair woven throughout the ancient grass of the forest. A soft groan sounded throughout the blissful silence, and the girl lying on the floor grimaced, moving a heavy arm to shield her eyes from the bright rays.

The truth was, the sun had risen a long time ago, back when she was still pleasantly asleep in her bed. With no curtains to block out the sunlight that woke her up, she had tiredly grabbed a blanket from her small apartment and staggered to her usual get-away spot, deep into the heart of the thick forest surrounding Konohagakure.

It had been a couple of hours since then, and it seemed that after wrestling with the leaves since sunrise, the light had finally managed to penetrate the thick greenery.

Her frail hands blocking the light, the grimace soon dropped from her face as she fell back into her dreams. Yes, this is how she liked it.

Some say time and tide wait for no man. While that is true, the saying fit dreams just as much. Though it had only been moments since the light awoke her, she had already forgotten what she had dreamt of. Dreams await no man. You have to live dreams in the moment, for the second you wake up, all memory of your previous dream gets buried under the mountain of thoughts that plague your consciousness.

As she fell unconscious once again, the annoying feeling of the grass pricking at her back turned numb, her breath evening out as she found herself in a different world. This one, like the one before it, and the one before that, was not a nightmare. No, this one was a fantasy, just like all the rest. The sound of turbid water rushing against rocks reached her ears, an array of rue-colored pebbles covering the bank of the clear river, barely visible over the hazy pink light enveloping the area.

Right. It might, upon first glance, seem like a dream. This setting was truly amazing, and had Chiharu been any other person, she would have enjoyed it much more. In her honest opinion, though, fantasies were not anything to brag about.

No, dreams balanced out the real world. An apathetic mechanism created by some heavenly power, designed to give the hopeless hope, and remind the lucky ones what they could have ended up with, embedding them with a sense of gratitude.

But she knew better than to believe in fantasies, for he was smiling at her from across the turquoise waters, his hand extended in an affectionate invitation, but she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes. How could she, when she had been ignoring his very existence for the past two years? It was not her fault, he seemed to remind her of things she would much rather forget.

No, this felt more like a nightmare to her, the only living family member that would want to associate themselves with her, her maternal uncle, was standing a few feet away, on the other side of the river. She had abandoned Hitoshi, the only person who would spare her a second glance, just as they had abandoned her. It seems that good is not always repaid. Something gnawed at her chest as she stood there, suffocating her as she looked across the river.

It bothered her very much how bad she suffered in her own head, but dealing with the guilt in her dreams meant she didn't have to deal with it when she was conscious. She was aware somewhere deep inside that this method of dealing with guilt did not actually work, but the young girl had rather childishly convinced herself it did.

Had she led a good life so far, her dreams would have probably brought her back down to Earth, reminding her to be grateful for what she had. Alas, that was not the case, as her dreams were of better worlds and better futures. Not what could have been, but what could be.

That was not the only reason Chiharu loved to sleep so much, though. Despite not having had a nightmare for weeks, she wouldn't have minded even if she had. In fact, she would pick having her worst nightmare playing over and over in her dreams rather than take a walk through the village, listening to the people talking about her in hushed whispers, or seeing the distrustful glances sent her way when they thought she wasn't looking.

It wasn't hearing the negative stuff she hated the most, though. No, what she truly hated was seeing everyone else so happy. She didn't necessarily wish for their misery, but she did envy them very much.

She had been given two chances at happiness. Two. That was more than anyone else could ask for! Yet she managed to screw both those up. She was screwing the second one up this very moment by not going to visit Hitoshi. She had no right to be jealous, she truly deserved the guilt she felt every time she went to sleep, another day come and gone without visiting him.

"Chii-chan!" A shout pierced the quiet forest, and Chiharu could hear the rapidly flapping wings of the distant birds cutting through the trees, fleeing at the sudden noise.

She knew that voice well. She had heard it nearly every day since she had arrived in Konoha 3 years ago. A puff of warm breath curled through the air just as brilliant purple eyes slowly flickered to life. They remained fixated on the viridescent trees above, which had slowly started to transition through seasons.

"I thought you were going to 'brighten up' the Hokage Rock. What happened to that plan?" She cringed at her own voice, which seemed to claw its way out of her throat. Propping herself up on her elbows, she looked towards the direction Naruto's voice had come from, only to find someone else standing next to him, looking quite furious.

In her surprise, she couldn't help but speak the first thing that came to mind, "Naruto, you snitch!" The accusation left her mouth before she could think twice, her narrowed gaze pinpointed at the boy. Great, now she was only digging herself a deeper grave. The blonde waved his hands frantically at the angry girl in a panic. "Chii-chan, let me explain!"

"Explain what, how he bribed you into telling him where I was?!" Chiharu glared at Naruto, who's only response was to clutch the back of his neck, sending her a sheepish grin.

"Chiyanagi-san!" Her face turned white as she remembered her teacher's presence. Taking a quick glance at the taller male, she started panicking at the look on his face.

"Iruka-sensei, I promise it's not what it looks like." She held up a finger to stop him from speaking as she tried to drag the blanket that was spread out on the grass behind her frail figure. Seeming to notice the flimsy piece of fabric his student was trying to hide, his anger dimmed slightly as he looked around the small clearing in confusion, and a hint of concern neither Naruto nor Chiharu seemed to notice. "You were sleeping here?!" 

"Yup! Chii-chan sleeps here all the time when the sun rises." Naruto gave Iruka-sensei a thumbs up, not noticing the way Chiharu balled up her fists as she glared at the shorter boy.

Iruka-sensei looked to Naruto in surprise at the new piece of information, but then his expression fell. It was a stupid question, as it was very much evident she did sleep here. Her long black hair was slightly tangled, and she was still dressed in her oversized blue indoor yukata.

He was about to say something, but then he seemed to remember the first thing she said when she woke up. Both Chiharu and Naruto looked on in horror as Iruka's face started to redden, and his grip on Naruto's collar tightened even more.

"So you knew about the stunt Naruto was gonna pull, didn't you?" He gritted out to the young girl, his eyes narrowing.

Iruka noticed Chiharu's face immediately draining of color as she grew more nervous. "What makes you say that, Iruka-sensei?" The girl forced out a laugh, patting her cheeks with her warm hands to regain their color, something she did when she was quite nervous.

That was all the confirmation he needed as he stomped over to the girl, dragging Naruto along with him. Iruka grabbed Chiharu by the collar as well, and Naruto could only grin at his alleged accomplice in response to her death glares.

"Next time, think twice before trying to ditch classes." He grumbled as he dragged his two students through the forest.

♚~♚

Minutes later, the three of them were standing in front of the class. Well, at least Iruka and Chiharu were. Iruka, after a failed escape attempt courtesy of Naruto, had tied the boy up with the ropes the troublemaker used to suspend himself over the Hokage Monument. 

Chiharu yawned beside the two as Iruka glared down at the tied up Naruto. The class quickly quietened down as Naruto looked away from his teacher with a 'tch.'

"Tomorrow is the Academy's Graduation exam." He began to scold the boy, sticking a finger into his face. "You've already failed the last two times! This is no time to be acting up, moron!" It took Chiharu a moment to process the childish insult, and she had to stifle her laughs as she clutched her stomach.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto responded, averting his eyes in annoyance at both his teacher and his supposed best friend. Iruka, though, had already rounded up on Chiharu, his finger now pointing at her, instead.

"And you, your marks aren't the greatest either! If you wanted to stay in the Academy so bad, you could have just asked." He threatened, which seemed to annoy the girl as she puffed her cheeks. It was true that she was a year younger than most students, but that didn't mean she wanted to be held back a year.

"Did you have to do this in front of the whole class?" The girl grumbled before he could continue to speak, but Iruka just ignored her remark. Turning back to the class, he took a moment to regain his breath before his intense demeanour returned.

"Time for a review test on the Transformation Jutsu, everybody line up!" He shouted at the rest of the class, who seemed less than thrilled at the announcement, but heeded the order either way. One by one, the students stood up from their seats and formed a line in front of the brown-haired man.


	2. Ｄｉｓａｐｐｏｉｎｔｍｅｎｔ - 失望

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tests were never her strong suit, but it wasn't like she failed many anyway. Emotions weren't really her strong suit, either. What she forgot, though, was that disappointment was also an emotion.

"We're about to begin the Graduation Exam. When I call your name, proceed to the next classroom."

It hadn't taken her that long to pull on her short blue kimono that morning, before trudging up to the Academy. It wasn't that her apartment was a long way off, but the distance seems to double when she's half-asleep.

That was how she found herself sitting at her usual seat, between Naruto and another one her classmates, Yamanaka Ino. Iruka-sensei's energetic voice only helped encourage her foul mood as she lay her head on the wooden desk in front of her, ignoring Naruto's energetic mumblings and Ino's lovestruck stares at another classmate.

"The test is going to be on the Clone Jutsu!" Iruka informed, but before she could process this information in her sleepy state, Naruto's mumbling suddenly grew louder.

"Damn it! Of all the... That's my weakest jutsu!" It was barely loud enough for her to hear, but the sudden change in volume threw any hope of sleep out the windows of the dull classroom.

"Don't worry, you'll make it." Chiharu waved off his worries as she straightened up in her seat.

"Ne, Chii-chan, why don't you help me?" He turned in his seat to face the girl with his usual grin. Right, she shouldn't have spoken up.

"You really just need to know the hand seals." She brushed him off, just as Iruka called up Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto would be the next person if they were going by Hiragana order.

"Right, right." Naruto nodded slowly, a hand curled around his chin as if he was in deep thought. "And what are the seals?"

"What?" Chiharu's head snapped to Naruto as he chuckled sheepishly. "You don't remember?" Chiharu sweatdropped at his antics as he shook his head at her. He was definitely not going to pass.

"It's the Ram seal, then the Snake, and then the Tiger." She reminded as her hands moved into the seals in spoken order. "And you have to knead enough chakra into each one, or they won't appear."

"Thanks!" He nodded before turning back to his mumbling.

"Right." She fell back in her chair. It wasn't long till Naruto was called up, and she couldn't help but feel slightly nervous. It wasn't for herself, though. No, it would still be a while before her name was called.

Naruto had already failed twice. Would a third time be enough to crush his hopes of becoming a ninja? She knew that if she were to fail now, she would probably just give up and forget about any of her promises. She would deal with the guilt as she did with everything else, by sleeping.

Deal with it in your subconsciousness, and you wouldn't feel bad while conscious. It only worked because Chiharu believed it did. It was a very tender system, but it would function as long as she didn't over-assess it.

Shaking away her thoughts, she looked around to find most of the class gone. As Iruka walked into the classroom again, he turned to look at the girl. "You're up, Chiyanagi-san." He spoke as he walked out the door.

As she was clambering out of her seat, she remembered the girl still sitting next to her. "Good luck, Ino-chan." She spoke before hurrying out of the room and into a classroom across the hallway.

It was nearly empty, with the only thing filling up the room was a two-seat desk at the front, where Iruka-sensei was getting into a seat next to a young, white-haired teacher.

"Did Naruto pass?" She immediately questioned, pointing at her Sensei. Iruka, however, did not reply and turned his stern gaze to a piece of paper in front of him.

"Chiharu-san, perform the Jutsu, please." Mizuki, the other teacher, cut in, turning a kind smile towards her.

Huffing, she walked over to the center of the wooden floor and closed her eyes. She formed her hands into the ram, snake, and tiger hand seals, before remembering something.

She had to control her chakra first, which was technically the hardest part for her. Taking a deep breath and trying to forget the presence of her two teachers, the previously dark back of her eyelids flashed brightly, and soon she was in...

♚~♚

_A beautiful wooden kitchen. It was candle-lit, and Chiharu could clearly remember what it had been three years ago. Ignoring her surroundings, she focused on the willow-wood table in front of her, where three items were._

_A big bowl of flour lay there, the white powder forming a hill above its rim. Next to it was a rather small and sticky piece of dough. All she had to do was get enough flour into the sticky substance to get it firm._

_She took the third item, a big spoon sticking out the side of the mound of flour, and tried to pull it out carefully. Huffing as she wiggled it around in the powder, she finally managed to get it free without tipping over the bowl._

_Now happy with her victory, she swung the spoon carelessly at the top of the mound. She only realized her mistake a second too late as the flour bowl tipped over, and she could only watch helplessly as the dough was covered in mounds of flour, and the scene suddenly flashed away._

♚~♚

"Clone Jutsu-" She spoke before she could stop herself, and her eyes widened as she awaited the aftermath.

At first, no clones appeared. Then, a pop sounded, and two of them appeared on Chiharu's either side. A grin erupted onto the three identical faces as they looked at each other before the victory took a turn for the worst.

The two clones eventually multiplied into four, and the four into eight, and by then, all of the black-haired, purple-eyed girls in the room started panicking and telling each other to stop cloning. Soon enough, the whole floor was filled with dozens of clones, and new clones stopped appearing.

A burst of simultaneous nervous laughter erupted as the clones clutched their heads sheepishly. Facing the currently-sweat-dropping teachers, they awaited the judgement of their teachers.

Iruka-sensei huffed in what appeared to be frustration as he flipped through the papers in front of him. "All the clones _do_ seem to be in working order." Mizuki pointed out to Iruka.

"But she has to learn how to control her chakra." Iruka paused, staring at the piece of paper in his hands.

"Half marks." He announced, rubbing his forehead as he turned to the now-excited clones.

"So I pass?" One of the girls in the center of the crowd raised her hand, presumably the original Chiharu.

"It's nothing to be happy about!" Iruka stood up from his chair, scolding the buzzing clones as they slowly poof-ed away in disappointment. "If you don't learn how to control your chakra, they'll just send you back to the Academy!"

The smile on the remaining Chiharu's face soon fell off as she processed what he had said. It wasn't like Chakra Control was easy, especially since Rokkuro was still 'hibernating.'

The room quietened down after Iruka's words, and Chiharu patted her cheeks slightly to fight off the blood rushing to her face. It wasn't like she was embarrassed whenever her face turned red, but the blood flowing to her head tended to keep her awake for hours, which Chiharu would like to avoid.

She walked over to the forehead protectors that lay on the table and picked up a white one, quickly tying it over her obi before taking off her obi string so her kimono wouldn't fall open.

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei..." She trailed off before turning and rushing out of the room. Sighing as she stepped into the interconnected halls of the Academy, she took her time walking past the empty rooms, occasionally passing by other students and teachers.

Would they really send her back if she didn't learn chakra control? Surely putting too much chakra into a technique wasn't that bad. "Right, after all, too much is better than too little, isn't it?" The sound of the girl's light footsteps halted as she turned around, meeting a pair of auburn irises.

"Oh. It's only you..." She mumbled, before turning back ahead, only to be halted by the same face, now in front of her. "What's with that reaction, Chiharu-Kun?" The man bent down to look at her frowning face, sending her a smile as she glared at him.

"Get out of the way, Rokkuro-chi." She spoke, bending her head to avoid the apparition's face. Side-stepping him, she continued walking through the Academy without sparing him a second glance.

It was quite for a while, and she was finally at peace in her own head. Soon, the rhythmic thuds of light footsteps against wood resumed, and Chiharu tried ignoring the nagging disappointment at her own performance currently filling up her chest.

The front hall of the Academy, which was usually empty this late, was now buzzing with joyful Genin and even prouder parents. They had all performed the task impeccably, so the air of confidence around the many families was not unearnt.

"So, you disappointed your teacher." The same annoying voice spoke up, and Chiharu turned to look at the same eyes, now annoyed as she found him lying across the front desk of the Academy, unnoticed by the two secretaries writing down the names of the graduating students on scrolls of paper.

Ignoring Rokkuro, Chiharu walked to the counter and faced one of the women. "Hitotsuyanagi Chiharu." She pointed at the forehead protector tied around her waist, still staring at the ground.

Once the scratching of ink on paper stopped, Chiharu turned around and hurried out of the building. Immediately, dull purple eyes scanned the surrounding crowds, which were much larger than the ones inside, before spotting Naruto on a swing a ways off.

Ignoring the parents' various expressions of joy was working out well for her as she fought the crowds, trying to get to Naruto. Well, that was until a conversation caught her attention.

"It's that boy..." A woman spoke. "I hear he's the only one who failed."

The person next to her hummed in reply, "Serves him right, it's bad enough they let the other one pass."

"Imagine what would happen if he became a ninja as well."

Now, Chiharu's cheeks were starting to get much hotter. In fact, her whole face was. Naruto wasn't that far off, and the two women very well knew that he was within hearing distance. It really crushed her, seeing her ever-optimistic friend clutch his head to block out the conversation - 

"Shut up." The words escaped her mouth before she could think of the trouble she would get in, her eyes still fixated on Naruto's dejected figure, slowly swaying on the swing.

"What?" One of the women turned to her, an offended look plastered across her face.

"I said shut up, would you?" She repeated, clutching her hands. "Considering your age, only a bitter pig would say such things in front of a kid five times as young knowing they were listening." Honestly, it was bad enough hearing the parents praise the passing children. It was a whole other thing for a fully grown adult to discourage a failing child.

Before the woman could reply, Chiharu quickly walked off toward her apartment building, completely deserting Naruto on the swing. After all, what could a pessimistic person like her do to encourage a person like Naruto?

She was still stuck in the past, and all Naruto could do was focus on the future...


	3. Ｄｏｕｂｔ - 疑問

To be honest, Chiharu had expected a boisterous weekend with Naruto, two full days of being vigorously dragged into every ramen shop in town, a total of forty-eight hours of overindulgence in both money and food. In other words, their usual lonely, pathetic weekend. Really, the only reason they even met was that they had no one else to talk to.

But the weekend had come and passed, and no such thing had happened. Actually, the bleak weekend was mostly Chiharu's own fault, so she shouldn't have been too surprised. Ever since her Graduation Exam scolding, she had tried to avoid Iruka as much as possible.

In the case of most scoldings, the aftermath would include a sense of guilt for disappointing her hard-working sensei. This was not the situation, though, as Chiharu was the one feeling disappointed this time around.

She was disappointed that Iruka would go as far as scolding her for something that was out of her power. Her lack of control was the one thing Chiharu hated most about herself, but Iruka, one of the few people who actually see her as more than a monster, would scold her over it.

While Naruto had made up with Iruka-Sensei the night of the Graduation Exam, Chiharu had spent every moment after the test holed up in her little apartment. The most productive thing she did that night was listening to Naruto recount the story of his fight with Mizuki blow-for-blow. The apartment she lived in, while only having three rooms, was looking messier than ever.

A stained shoji led from the building hallway into the living room, which was by far the largest room in the small house. The walls were a shade of plain white, with a kotatsu sitting at the center of the room, its futon a dark blue.

Multiple zaisu surrounded the table, and a small wooden kitchen was nestled into the farthest corner of the room, located next to another shoji screen that leads to the cramped balcony.

The messiness did not come from the boring furniture, though, but from the random items strewn around the room. The dark wooden floor of the living room was invisible through the dozens of scrolls littering the place, and most of the paint on the walls was cracked.

Naruto did not seem to mind the mess, though, as he seated himself with three bowls of steaming-hot instant ramen onto the stubby table, ignoring the messy living room with a goofy grin on his face.

"Chii-chan, the ramen's done!" He informed the lump under the kotatsu futon, unyieldingly poking it with his chopsticks as he hummed a cheerful tune.

Grumbling, the sleepy figure shoved the blanket aside before pushing herself up. Brushing her hair away from her face, she gave the blonde sitting at her table a sideglance. "Why are you here, anyway? You have plenty of ramen at your place." The annoyed remark left her mouth just as she picked up her own chopsticks and dragged one of the bowls towards her frail form.

"I ran out of money, dattebayo," Naruto spoke through the mouthful of ramen in his mouth. 

"Wait, already?" Chiharu was quite surprised. They had only received their expenses a few weeks ago, and their next checks would arrive late next week. "What are you gonna do then, did you run out of ramen?" The remains of sleep that had been clouding her mind began to deteriorate as questions rushed through her head.

Naruto paused mid-slurp, his hands halting mid-air and the ramen noodles swaying slightly from side to side as if he had just realized the severity of his situation.

It was a few seconds before either of them moved, the quiet atmosphere of the apartment filling the space between them.

Then, he let the ramen cup go as his hand moved to scratch the back of his neck instead, and he gave her a disconcerted smile, with the ramen still hanging out of his mouth, his body rocking with nervous chuckles.

Chiharu sighed as she leaned back in her chair, giving him a lazy wave. "It's alright, you can come over here for some food whenever you're hungry." Her eyes suddenly took on a sharper, more threatening hue. "Just make sure to not wake me up, Naruto-chi." 

The blonde turned to face her with a warm grin before slurping up the ramen still hanging from his mouth. "Alright! But you don't have to be so grumpy in the mornings, dattebayo!" Chiharu sighed as her friend reverted back to his loud nature, teasingly poking her cheeks with his chopsticks.

"We're gonna be late..." She shoved the sticks away from her face.

♚~♚

Hiruzen looked through the small, crystal orb sitting innocently on the surface of his desk. He barely paid any mind to the handful of chūnin and jōnin around him, instead occupied within his own thoughts as everyone gazed at the image of the purple-eyed girl reflected through the sphere.

He hadn't seen that look on her face for months. Not since... Well, not since the last time he proposed paying a hospital visit to her maternal uncle. His constant attempts to coerce her into meeting one Araya Hitoshi had hit a snag that day when she had given him a death glare worthy of an award. He now resorted to less direct means to avoid a long, painful, and unnatural death.

But now, she had the same dark look on her face as she stared at the table, not paying half a mind to her friend as he was pushed to the ground by Sakura.

"The Hitotsuyanagi girl?" Kotetsu spoke up from the back.

"Yes, Chiyanagi-san." He replied, sparing a glance at Kakashi. "For the three years she's been here, she's been shown to lack determination of any kind, but she has tons of potential," Hiruzen reassured, fighting off the wave of unspoken doubt circulating around the room.

"The only person she's willing to talk to is Uzumaki Naruto, so the reason for the placement is obvious..." Asuma pitched in, having met the girl multiple times. 

The Third Hokage looked back to the orb to see a rather peculiar sight. Naruto, who had been leaning threateningly over Sasuke, seemed to have slipped. A crowd of shocked girls stared at the accidental kiss, which seemed to have brought Chiharu out of her reverie. Her next words drew out many chuckles both within the classroom and the Hokage's office.

"My, my, Naruto-chi. That'll be a story to tell your Uchiha grandkids." She grinned at the blonde, who quickly jumped off the desk and waved his hands at her.

"Chii-chan, you know it wasn't like that!" Naruto whined, annoyance laced within his voice.

"I don't know, it took you quite some time to end it." Her grin only widened when Sasuke also turned to glare at her.

"Why were you looking at it, anyway? Pervy-Chii!" Naruto went on complaining, not seeming to notice the angry assembly of girls currently gaining on him.

She gave a slight sigh as she watched one of the girls pounce on Naruto, the others following soon after. Things were getting boring again. "Aren't you gonna help him?" A voice spoke up from her right.

Chiharu glanced beside her to find Shikamaru staring at her, the place to _his_ right, where Ino-chan sat, currently empty. Ino was too busy beating up Naruto. Chiharu shivered at the thought of being beaten up by a group of girls.

"No, he should know better." Her eyes darkened slightly in fear. "Crush on the Uchiha, and _they'll_ crush you."

"Hear, hear." Choji nodded in agreement from behind her, speaking around a mouthful of chips.

♚~♚

"As of today, you'll have become fully-fledged ninjas." The smile that would have usually been on Iruka's face was nowhere to be seen, and that bothered Chiharu more than she'd ever like to admit. It wiped any trace of amusement from Naruto and Sasuke's previous situation away.

His students, the ones he'd taught for years longer than she'd even been in Konoha, had just graduated. He had made up with Naruto and acknowledged his responsibility for the young boy. He should be beaming right now, but he was frowning.

Chiharu was anything but arrogant, and she sure as hell wouldn't claim to be that important to anyone, but even she couldn't ignore the little voice in her head telling her that it was her fault he wasn't happy right now.

Maybe it was Rokkuro unconsciously manipulating her thoughts while he was asleep, or perhaps it was just her cynical nature, but the only thing running through her head then was...

_If it wasn't for her - if she didn't exist, he'd be smiling right now._

All she ever did was cause grief and sorrow; ask any of her relatives, and they'd tell you the same. But she didn't need any of them. Not her estranged family, not Iruka, she didn't need anyone other than herself. It didn't hurt her that he didn't care; Chiharu could take perfectly good care of herself.

So, she swallowed down whatever toxic thoughts wiggled their way into her mind and laid her head down onto the table like any other proud, careless freak. She was just about to fall asleep when she heard her name being called.

"Team Seven; Chiyanagi-chan," Iruka called out, using her sobriquet instead of her full name. It surprised her that he wasn't petty enough to call her by the surname she's grown to hate. This just proved how nice of a person Iruka was, and how different the two of them were.

But the real reason she was shocked was that Iruka reminded her so much of Hitoshi, perhaps a quirk of being best friends with her legal guardian.

"Uzumaki Naruto," He listed, causing Naruto to jump off his seat in excitement.

"We're on the same team, dattebayo!" Already familiar with Naruto's upbeat personality, she raised her hand into the air for a high-five without lifting her head off the table. 

Iruka waited for Naruto to sit back down before continuing, "Haruno Sakura," Naruto jumped up once again, this time launching his fist into the air. Sakura looked dejectedly at the table. "I'm with Naruto?" She mumbled.

The roles were switched, however, when Iruka-sensei called the next name. "...and, Uchiha Sasuke."

At this, Chiharu's head shot up, ignoring Naruto's whining and Sakura's cheers. "How come we're four?" She narrowed her eyes at the teacher, who turned to send her a calm look. Perhaps she was stirring up something that was better left alone, but she took this as an insult.

Sakura was the Ninja Academy's number one in written exams, and Sasuke was the number one rookie. Was this meant as an insult?

"I don't see why you should be complaining..." Shikamaru commented from next to her.

"Agreed, you're with Sasuke-Kun!" Ino added from her other side.

"That's not what I meant!" Shikamaru shot back again. Chiharu just ignored the bickering pair and chose to focus on Iruka instead.

Seeing the girl's unyielding glare, Iruka let out a sigh. A sigh of annoyance, or maybe exhaustion? "You and Naruto combined... amount to one below-average ninja."

...

It took her a moment to digest what he had just said, but even when she did, she had no idea what to say. He was right, after all. But she couldn't tell him that. She sat there for a few moments, her mind racing with possible replies, but he didn't give her enough time as he turned back to his list of teams.

Slowly, her head plopped down onto the table, a low, discouraged groan escaping her. Did she really mess up that badly? She felt Ino-chan patting her back as she tried to reassure her of something Chiharu was too tired to hear.

"Why do women think that kind of guy's so great?" She heard Shikamaru complain. 

_How was she supposed to know?_

"Don't you understand, Shikamaru?" And the pair hovering above her form started arguing again. 

_He wouldn't be asking if he did..._

"Well, I'm not a woman." 

_Could've fooled her._

It seemed like she had voiced her last comment out loud, because, at that moment, Ino burst into a fit of exaggerated laughter, while Shikamaru boinked Chiharu's head with a 'tch'.

Chiharu sent another glare to Shikamaru, making no move to fix her black strands.

♚~♚

She managed to tune out the rest of the class noise, choosing to curl up on her chair instead. Before long, though, Naruto's voice shouted from next to her. "Chii-chan, let's go eat with Sakura-chan." He grinned. When had he gotten there?

"It's alright, you go ahead." She waved him off, but he stayed rooted in his spot.

"You should eat, dattebayo! You're getting really thin..." A frown slowly replaced his previous grin.

Chiharu cringed at his loud comment, turning around to make sure no one had heard him. "Don't worry, I'll eat later. I told you to go ahead... Sakura will eat with Sasuke at this rate!"

At the reminder of his crush, Naruto nodded fervently. "Right, right, Sakura-chan!"

She watched his retreating back as he rushed to get to Sakura before she got to Sasuke.

As the door to the large meeting hall shut with a click, she was back to her lonesome. Why was she pushing _Naruto_ away now? She didn't want to be this lonely... She just wanted everyone to know that she was alright on her own.

Right. Chiharu didn't need parents, or aunts and uncles, or cousins, or godfathers, or even friends. She didn't even need a team or a jōnin instructor. She was fine alone. No matter how lonely she was, she could always count on herself.

Deciding to ditch the introductions Iruka had prepared, Chiharu slowly got up and started making her way out of the Academy.

♚~♚

"So, this is the chakra monster's house..." Kakashi slid open the stained door, stepping in the room with the Third Hokage.

"I've told her to lock the door multiple times," Hiruzen sighed tiredly. Maybe his old age was starting to get to him; he couldn't hold a scolding session long enough for it to make a difference.

"This is messier than Naruto's room," The white-haired ninja looked around the small living room, slightly sweatdropping at the mountains of unopened scrolls and shiny weapons scattered throughout. Blankets were hung over the windows to block out the sunlight, a cheap improvision to replace curtains. 

To be honest, the mess did not surprise him a lot. This was Hitoshi's niece, after all.

"And quite dangerous..." He caught himself from stepping onto a double-bladed kunai stuck on the floor, the sharp edge glinting menacingly, as if to tell him to turn back.

He sure as hell wouldn't lose a foot breaking into a student's home. Behind him, he heard Hiruzen speak up, "I'm starting to question whether she makes this mess on purpose." Kakashi looked back to the mess and noticed what Hiruzen had meant.

While most of the blades were scattered about in disorder, nearly all of them were facing the sky, the same threatening glare ricocheting off of them as well. It was then that something caught Kakashi's eyes. Among the scrolls and knives was one expensive-looking wooden box. Attached to it was a piece of paper reading;

"Naruto - if you open this, I'll kill you!" Whatever threat was laced within those words diminished at the small drawing of a cat baring its fangs.

"You really shouldn't open that..." Hiruzen muttered to him, but Kakashi only ignored the warning as he popped the lock open. "She doesn't even lock her jewelry boxes?" Kakashi spoke doubtfully.

He slowly opened the box up, pausing at what he saw inside. Hiruzen, having already seen the box multiple times and knowing its contents, only looked at Kakashi to gauge his reaction.

"Who the hell are you?" A voice erupted from the doorway, weariness laced within its undertones. Both men turned to look at the purple-eyed girl they had seen through the orb a short while ago.

"Chiyanagi-san, what are you doing here? Your lunch break finished half an hour ago." But the girl ignored him, turning to the stranger in the room. She was about to ask the white-haired male what the hell he was doing here, or who the hell he was... before her eyes zeroed in on the box in his hands.

"What- what are you doing with that?! Didn't you see the note?" She glared at Kakashi.

"What, the one with the cat?" At the mention of the small drawing, Chiharu's face heated up slightly.

"Of course, it wouldn't make sense to you... Naruto hates cats." She began mumbling, her glare sharpening at the man's teasing. 

"That's a private belonging, so why the hell did you open it?"

"Chiharu," Hiruzen's scolding voice spoke up. "Were you planning on skipping the meeting?"

"That was before I found a stranger in my home, looking at Chikayoshi-Kun's eyes!"

"Chikayoshi... So these were your father's?" Kakashi mumbled at the two severed eyeballs, a color identical to the girl's own, sitting inconspicuously on the expensive wood of the box.

Slowly, Kakashi closed the box up again and moved to place it inside one of the cabinets. Chiharu heard Hiruzen sighing from beside her. All the socializing and thinking she had done today had taken its toll on her, so she was too tired to complain when Hiruzen asked Kakashi to take her back to the Academy.

No, instead of complaining, she made the ninja pay for looking through her stuff by climbing onto his back. After forcing her to look at her father's eyes, a quiet piggyback ride was the least he could do.

Halfway to the Academy, though, the silence was interrupted by a question. Actually, it was more of a statement.

"Those eyes... should have decomposed a long time ago..."

She had expected him to say that, but he said it much sooner than she had hoped. She looked over the tall ninja's shoulder, to the school building in the distance, swallowing around the lump in her throat.

"Well, I leave him at Hitoshi's room every month..." She mumbled her uncle's name as if saying it too loudly would summon him. "He's great at medical ninjutsu..."


End file.
